A primary aim of pneumococcal immunisation programmes is to prevent invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD), defined as infection of Streptococcus pneumoniae in the blood or other normally sterile sites, with associated hospitalisations and deaths. Pneumococci also cause respiratory tract infections without bacteraemia; the most severe of which is pneumococcal pneumonia, but also include middle-ear infection (acute otitis media) and sinusitis.

Building on our previous reviews of the pneumococcal literature conducted in 2016 and 2017, which examined use of ten-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV10), high-risk groups requiring pneumococcal vaccination and the placement of PCVs in childhood on the National Immunisation Schedule, this review is limited to literature published between January 2016 and April 2019. It examines the scheduling of pneumococcal conjugate vaccines (PCV10 and PCV13) and the use of 23-valent polysaccharide pneumococcal vaccine (PPV23) in high-risk groups and older adults, focussing on questions relevant to pneumococcal immunisation in New Zealand (NZ). The evidence presented has not been formally graded as in a systematic review, and cost effectiveness of pneumococcal vaccines is not included.

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